


Our Own Company

by Treerat



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-29 03:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12621840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treerat/pseuds/Treerat
Summary: This is a story that is a followup/add on to "Secure Within the Perimeter".Agents Jack, Judy, Nick, and Skye are put on a disappearing mammal case.





	Our Own Company

**Author's Note:**

> Was having a bit of trouble pulling this together until I came across an art illo by an artist named Caltro showing Nick and Jack, in the buff, snugged up together in some kind of hotel suite. Things took off from there.
> 
> The art illo can be found here:
> 
> https://e621.net/post/show/1333948/2016-anthro-butt-caltro-canine-city-disney-eyes_cl

“The bright lights of the city,” the red fox thought to himself. “A place that never sleeps because there are daytime and nocturnal mammals to be catered to in Sin City.”

Nicholas Wilde reclined in the niche, formed at where the arm and back met, of the comfortably padded couch. The lights in the luxurious hotel suite were off but the room was far, for him, from being dark. His eyes were adapted to low light and night lighting conditions and through the two large arched ornate living room windows shown those afore mentioned lights.

“Midnight in Sin City,” Nick said with a quiet voice. “An excellent meal had, an evening and night of ‘indulgences’ followed by a long hot soak, warm air dry, and then a good grooming.”

He lifted his left hand and eyed the half full shot glass he held in it.

“Great bourbon.”

Lowering his head to look down the along the front of his nude body, Nick looked upon the small form of the equally nude bunny who lie, belly down on him fast asleep. Barely three-fifths his own height and about a quarter his weight, the rabbit’s head, turned sideways, rested on Nick’s chest. The rest of the lapin’s body was stretched out over the vulpine’s midriff and left thigh. Nick used his free hand to lightly caress over the bunny’s silky ears.

“And thou,” Nick said.

* * * * * * * * * * * *  
It was a call from none other than Mr. Big that kicked off their investigation. The number of missing mammals had climbed above the usual numbers for almost a year.

“It is not only predators. Those missing span the entire spectrum of all of the species,” he told them. “The only factors common are their ages, mainly between 16 to 28. Almost all are in slightly above average and better physical condition. And the greatest number of them are middle class to lower middle class on the economic scale.”

“So, whoever this is doesn’t grab anyone higher than middle class to avoid getting any mammal whose disappearance could grab the authorities’ attention,” observed one rabbit, Jack.

“That would seem to be the case,” the arctic shrew said.

“And what do you suspect is going on?” asked Judy, hoping she wouldn’t hear what her cold Logic knew was coming.

“This has the look of mammal trafficking.”

Evolution, or Uplift, as many of the secular types these days called it, had slowly pulled the effected mammals out of wild primitive savagery to the technological civilization of today. But, as with many things, it had its own problems that included the desire to dominate others to the point of, and including, enslavement. The popular view was of predators lording it over prey species, actual history painted quite a different picture. Since prey types outnumbered preds some ten to one there had been far more prey species slave owners and enslavers than those of predator species. And quite a number of preds were among the enslaved on both sides of ownership. Today, there were laws and even worldwide agreements that outlawed slavery. But, in a bit over half of the world those laws and agreements were looked upon with a wink and a nudge and even in the States there were those who saw enslavement as their way of exercising complete power dominance over others.

“And since Zootopia has large numbers of all of the evolved species it becomes a target,” pointed out the arctic fox vixen, Skye.

“Not just Zootopia,” said Nick Wilde, the team’s red fox.

He was reading through the file of papers Mr. Big had compiled on those missing mammals. Pulling out a few pages, he handed them to Judy and told her to look through them.

“These…these are all from the Burrows,” she said after scanning the pages.

“Yes. I had research done beyond Zootopia and its metro areas on the hunch that this…organization may have cast its nets far and wide. You can see….”

“Hey, I know this one!” Judy exclaimed. “Sheela Hooper, she was in my class, part of the ‘in crowd’ clique.”

“Gave you hard time over wanting to be a cop, I’ll bet,” said Nick, still scanning pages.

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t rate her getting kidnapped and sold off to some mammal to...to do…whatever with her!”

Jack had a question of his own.

“Why bring us in on this,” he asked. “True, there may, and likely are some international connections to this….”

“Jack, mammal trafficking is one of the few things that the greater number of people in the States get riled up about,” said Nick. “And when this finally gets to the point that the political types figure it’s time to do something about…”

He looked up from the folder to gaze at Mr. Big.

“…guess who they are going to pontificate about as their main suspects?”

The shrew nodded.

“Correct. Never mind that we of the Council of Bosses forbid such activity as it is bad for the rest of our business dealings."

“So, you would like to have, need an outside investigative agency to track down this bunch and confirm that neither you nor your brother Bosses have anything to do with it,” said Skye.

“That is desirable but, first, there is the need to find the culprits and deal with them,” said Mr. Big.

He looked at Jack with his barely open eyes.

“And since you have lured Judy and Nicky, members of my family, into the greater world and the increased dangers involved, I believe you owe me something for that.”  
Jack thought that one over for a few seconds.

“We’ll pitch it to our Chief but no promises,” he said at last.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

To their surprise, the Chief put them on the case.

“Our numbers watchers have seen the rise in mammal disappearances and brought them to my attention. We’ve put some feelers out to ferret out some more information but nothing yet,” the cape buffalo told them. “Since you have a lead, albeit a faint one, you are to follow it up and see if it goes anywhere.”

“How much freedom of action do we have?” asked Jack.

Bogo eyed the four.

“Use your discretion but be as subtle about this as you can,” he said.

Bogo noted the look of barely contained delighted craftiness in Wilde’s expression. He, also, saw the other three looking at him; Jack with a neutral expression on his face, Skye a speculative look on hers, and Judy looked to her informal mate with a stern expression on her face.

“One hopes that she can keep him from causing too much collateral chaos,” he thought.

They set themselves up with a cover of being well-to-do mammals from the oil and mineral rich MidEast; Jack and Nick as business dealers with Skye and Judy as their clingy ‘love’ interests. It took months for them to establish tentative contact and almost as long to gain any real trust with the organization (the few ‘purchases’ they made were tucked away in safehouses). On the big day they were negotiating a large buy when a commotion caused their host to excuse herself to go deal with it. The deer doe checked to be sure the computer in the room was logged out before telling them she would be back shortly and then left. There was the sound of the lock being turned and the four were alone. Several seconds passed then Judy and Nick went to the door. The fox, fixing a bored expression on his face, casually looked out of the lower pane of the small two pane window to see that there was a male tiger leaning against a wall some twenty feet away. The look on his face said he was bored but body language said he was alert. Though not looking his way, Nick was pretty sure the big feline knew he was there. Turning away, he leaned back with the back of his head against the glass. Jack and Skye saw him raise one finger and then make a push motion with his hand. Thus assured that they were alone Skye fairly pounced on the computer station and went to work. Jack pulled a couple of memory sticks from a pocket and plugged them into the USB ports then watch the screen as the arctic fox vixen applied her hacking skills and talents into breaking through the system’s security.

“Hmmmmm, darned good setup. Would like to meet whomever put this together and trade ideas,” she commented.

“Giving you a hard time, love?” Jack asked.

“Let’s say it’s interesting time, bunny one,” she replied.

Judy extracted a set of picks and went to work on the door’s lock. Ear’s up, she listened for particular sounds as she felt her way around in the mechanism.

“Careful there, Carrots. Tigers have decent hearing,” Nick murmured out of the corner of his mouth.

“Not worried about that,” she said, softly.

“You’re not?”

“If he comes to investigate I figure you’ll snow him so much that he’ll be flash frozen in no time.”

She heard the faint chuff laugh and smiled at it as she heard and felt one more pin shift into its opening position.

“I’m in,” Skye said.

“Raid it,” said Jack.

“On it, oh Great Hare,” she said with a humorous tone of voice.

As the vixen downloaded data to the mem. sticks she did a look through on a file list and something titled “Demonstration videos” caught her attention and she clicked on it. A submenu appeared and the titles in it made her gut feel queasy. Jack caught sight of the files and his jaw clinched and eyes went flint hard as he took the mouse out of the vixen’s hand.

“Look away,” he said as he clicked on “Executions”.

“Nope,” she replied.

Judy had the pins in their appropriate places and slowly turned the lock to get the locking bar back when…

“Come over here you two,” said Jack in a voice that was quiet but left neither fox nor bunny in doubt that he was NOT pleased.

What they saw on the screen when they got there explained why in a big way. Judy looked away after a few scenes played by. She’d heard whispered rumors but, now…. The look on Nick’s face was as grim as Jack’s and he dropped a hand on one of the hare’s shoulders.

“Any others?” Nick asked.

Jack shut off the video and went back to the submenu. Additional files were labeled “Bloodsports”, “Gladiator Arena”, “Torture Dungeon”, and so on. A few seconds later, the data completed its transfer and Jack pulled the memory sticks out and pocketed them. He would burn the vest and underlying shirt after he handed them over to Bogo.

“And take one hell of a long shower as well,” he thought.

Skye logged out and, without a word, the four headed for the door. Nick pulled out a small remote unit, looked through the window to the tiger, set a ten second delay, and pushed the button. After that, he pocketed the remote and grabbed….

The tiger heard what sounded like someone ripping a long length of cloth. The sound came from some place around the big doorway that led into the main warehouse section… A metal chair from the office smashed into the back of his head and the feline went down to sprawl on the floor.

“A recording of a fart?!” Judy asked.

“Bunbun, you gonna argue about its effectiveness?” he asked as he plucked the small diameter player speaker unit off the wall by the door. 

Jack and Nick strode out into the big storage room as if they owned the place with Judy and Skye snugged up against their sides making idle chit chat. The few mammals that saw them gave them a look but, having seen them here a few times before, didn’t see anything out of place with them. They turned through another doorway. This led to a small armory area. There were two mammals, males, there. Nick and Jack ducked out of sight and then the girls went to the deer stag and weasel and distracted them with “bubblehead bunny” act. With their attention on the bunny and vixen the pair were easy targets for Jack and Nick to take down. It took only a few minutes for them to pick out the weapons, ammo, and some munitions and then they got to work. The first sign the gang got that something was wrong was when several smoke grenades landed in various places in the main room. These were followed by flashbangs. Things got seriously confused after that. Some gang members rushed to the area while others took a more cautious approach. The thing was, no one knew what was going on and most were reluctant to do anything rash on those grounds. The deer doe boss arrived on the scene and directed others to sweep various sections for unknowns.

“I’ll check on our guests,” she said.

The sight of the unconscious tiger and then the empty office told her all she needed to know. The doe went back and collared a couple of her lieutenants.

“Those Mideasters! You see them, you kill them! Pass the word!” she ordered.

She went back to her office, checked the computer (still logged out and nothing missing from it). Still, she didn’t like this and fished a thermite grenade from its hiding place, set it on top of the CPU box, and pulled the pin.

 

They had almost made it out of the building when one search group found them. A free fire gunfight broke out and went on for a few minutes and drew more and more of the opposition members into the fray. The foxes, hare, and rabbit slowly retreated to one of their planned escape exits and, before leaving, they let fly with several small fragmentation grenades and felt more than a little satisfaction at the sounds of cries and screams of pain that resulted. Jack reached to the right collar point of his shirt collar to press hard there. The thin remote hidden there transmitted its set code and heavily armored and armed squads of the ZPD moved in on the opposite side of the building. With so many perps drawn away to the other side of the building their entry was relatively easy. They spread out quickly to secure the area as fast as possible. As suspected, it was the area where a number of kidnapped mammals were being held. The word spread among the gang members on what was going on and they reacted in several ways. Many opted for escape while some of the more hardened types decided to fight. Those already engaged in the pursuit of the four agents were the last to get the message and about half continued the chase. The street that they were in was deserted (the reason why they chose it) and fire came from around corners and over and around some abandon vehicles. Things were in hand until a female wolf blast ran out of a side alley and blindsided Nick. The fox’s nerve reactions took over and he folded with the impact. This reduced the force by a bit and he was about to hit his attacker with his weapon when she opened her maw and bit hard into his left hindquarter. The pained yelp from Nick got the other three’s attention and Skye laid down cover fire while the two lapins went to help. Both slammed the butts of their weapons onto the wolf’s head and kill her then and there. The shirtless charging tiger came out to pounce on Jack and Judy. They managed to get their rifles up in time to block, just, the big cat’s first attempt to bite one of them. Freeing himself, Nick saw his mates’ plight. Somewhere within himself, that savage instinctive Beast broke loose and the next thing the tiger knew was something was clawing on him in an effort to strip his pelt off of him. A mouth full of sharp teeth closed hard on the sides of his neck and the only thing that saved him was the heavy leather collar he wore. The Beast recognized that it wasn’t getting through and chose to sink its teeth deep into its victim’s left shoulder and then yank its head about to tear the flesh. And not for even a split second did those blunt canine claws stop raking over the back and sides of the tiger. Squalling as much from anger as pain, the striped feline reared up and reached his arms back behind him to try to get hold of the scrabbling demon on his back. He screamed again when teeth chomped hard on the fingers of his open right hand and ripped the flesh with another twist of their head. Adrenalin pumped as he was the tiger just could not quite get a hold on his raging attacker (Jack and Judy said it was like watching that cartoon Tasmanian devil doing his whirlwind attack). Skye had had enough and let loose her remaining frags and two smoke grenades.

“We’ve got to go!” she barked.

The battered bunnies managed to slam their weapons into the flailing cat’s legs. He scream roared and fell and his head impacted the pavement and he was out. The savage raged fox went on ripping into his unconscious opponent.

“Nick!” Judy yelled.

The intelligent Nick focused on her voice and managed to haul in his Beast and cage it. Jumping off the tiger, he grabbed up both Judy and Jack and, keeping close to the walls, fled down the street.

“Activate!” he hollered when they passed an area where there were a pair of abandon vehicles parked across from each other on opposite sides of the street.  
Voice sensors recognized his pattern and powered up the objects they were hooked up to. Several seconds later, sonic sensors picked up approaching targets and when the first was about twenty feet away the four claymore antipersonnel mines, two set behind the front grills of each vehicle, fired. The spray of hundreds of stainless steel ball bearings took out most of their remaining pursuers and convinced the rest that they didn’t want to risk running into another such trap.

Battered and bloodied, the four of them retreated to the safe point they had set up for themselves. Once to the room on the 14th floor of the closed up apartment building, they shed most of their clothing and then checked each other’s injuries. Though messy and hurting it was determined that none were life threatening. Nick’s was the worst and after sterilizing the bite wound they wrapped his whole hindquarter in strip gauze and then attended to his other lesser hurts as well as their own. That done, they barricaded the room’s one door and hooked up an alarm to it. They should report in but all felt worn out and sleep in this small denlike room was what they wanted the most. Judy and Jack were set in the middle of the large bed and then the foxes curled up around them. Jack cuddled into his Skye while Judy hugged herself up to Nick. All were out mere seconds later.

Stoically, Chief Bogo accepted the pair of memory sticks. The grim look on Jack and the others faces told him that things were bad.

“Get to medical and have them check you over,” he said.

As that was going on he had the files checked and the operators quickly turned up those ‘demo’ videos. Bogo’s jaw clinched more and more as he viewed several of them. He was no rose colored glasses type, he knew that any number of people and places in this world were, by decent standards, pretty ugly but to have that ugliness so blatantly displayed….

“You’ve done an excellent job,” the Chief told his team.

Even after a few days rest and hot food and the knowledge that several dozen kidnap victims were rescued the four of them were grimly subdued. That Nick did not make any of his usual snarky remarks and jabs was a sign of how this mission had effected them. The cape buffalo pulled a box out of a desk drawer, set it on his desk, and opened it up.

“As of this moment, you four are on indefinite leave,” Bogo said as he pulled items out of the box.

He handed each of them a large manila envelope that was about an inch thick. They opened them and found several debit and credit cards within as well as several thousand dollars in cash.

“I don’t care where you go or what you do for the time being but you are to leave and travel as you wish and do whatever comes to mind. I know you won’t be able to forget what you’ve seen and know but please do what you can to blur it some,” he said.

They left.

“Where do we go first?” asked Skye.

“VEGAS!!” stated the other three in unison.

They rented a large RV and spent several days driving across country to ‘Sin City’, making a few stops here and there on the way to see some natural wonder or landmark. Once there, they got a pair of suites at one of the best hotel casinos. The girls roomed in one suite while the guys took the other. Over the next few days, they gambled, took in some of the offered shows and entertainments, and did some touring. This night, Judy and Skye went their way on their own while Jack and Nick headed out together. After “contributing” a few thousand dollars to a couple of casinos, the guys found a night club with a dance floor. There, they joined up with two females, a squirrel for Jack and an otter for Nick, and spent a couple of hours dancing or sitting and chatting. Nick bought a bottle of good bourbon and all sipped some of it from their respective shot glasses. After bidding their dance partners goodbye, Nick, carrying the bottle and a couple of shot glasses, and Jack went outside. It was night and the fox noted the almost full moon in the clear sky. He got an idea.

“Get in!” he told Jack when the cab he’d flagged down stopped by them.

“Where to?” asked the cabbie.

“Wherever the wolves go to do their night howling,” Nick said.

“Lupine Park it is,” the cheetah driver said as he took off.

“How much to rent your cab for a few hours?” Nick asked after getting out at the park.

“Three hundred will get you up to six hours.”

Nick peeled off six fifties and handed them to the driver.

“Just wait here until we get back.”

“Will do.”

The sound of howling came from several directions as the fox and hare walked deeper into the park. Finding a bench in an area where they could see no one around, Nick sat down and patted the spot right next to him. After Jack seated himself, Nick filled the glasses about two thirds full and handed his colleague one.

“Cheers,” he said as he tapped his glass to Jack’s.

Each took a long sip and then they threw their heads back and sent out their own howls. Both put their pent up fury, anguish, and frustration into those howls, and didn’t stop until their throats were raw. When they couldn’t do that anymore, they went back to the cab and had their driver take them to their hotel.

“You’ve still got another four hours of my time,” the spotted cat said.

“Some other time,” rasped Nick.

“Thanks,” the driver said.

It was close to one in the morning and when they got to their suite Jack and Nick got out of their clothes and each took a long hot soak in the pair of whirlpool tubs in the bathroom. They stood in the heat of the full body fur blower until their fur was dry. Then, in the buff, each helped the other groom. That done, they retired to the livingroom area. Nick put on some old “Blue Eyes” music with the volume turned down and then they lounged on the couch. Though Nick had poured bourbon into each of their glasses neither drank much of it. They’d already had their fill and the alcohol burned their abused throats. The lights were off and the only lighting was that of the city outside coming through the room’s ornate windows. Bodies relaxed, soft music playing, and the low lighting made it easy for the pair to let their minds drift in a nebulous state. A place, condition, where the outside world was excluded and nothing of that world could reach them. It didn’t last long, they lived in the real world and, desires to the contrary, they had to deal with that. Still, it was nice to be able to….

Through his half lidded eyes, Nick saw Jack give him a questioning, almost hopeful, look. The laid back fox nodded to his battlemate and tapped the fingertips of his empty hand on his left thigh. Jack came to him, set his glass on the end table by the couch, and crawled up onto Nick. Stretched out on the tod, Jack snugged one side of his head into Nick’s chest, heaved a small sigh, and drifted off to sleep. Nick smiled indulgently at the hare as he stroked his free hand along the Jack’s ears in a way that he knew was soothing. The dozing Jack tried to snug his head further into the fox’s chest fur. Nick looked to one side to a mirror by one of the suite’s doors and saw their reflection in it.

“Two warriors preferring their own company as they rest for the battles that both know are coming,” he whispered to himself as he stroked Jack’s ears once more.


End file.
